WP Platinum Blog
Sorry I’ve been gone for a while. I’ve recently started a new diet, hoping to get my body healthy and perhaps even off its addiction to sugar. Because of that (and because I’m finally seeing some evidence of it working) I’m not sure if I’ve been feeling ill due to actually catching a summer cold or if my body is cleansing, a term I’ve heard used that means “flushing out unwanted/unneeded chemical buildup from the body” . I’m guessing that it’s actually a cold since last night I had a touch of fever and I’ve started developing a headache along with a few muscle aches as well. Either way, that’s a small excuse for my delay in posting.
Sometimes I really wish that I’d been smarter a year ago than I am now. You see, last year, severely understaffed at work, I decided that my “minor” aches and pains could be ignored. So, when I started having trouble clenching and unclenching my hands (more so my right than my left), I got annoyed at my hands. I didn’t attempt to slow down… after all, if it only bothered me when I attempted to use a dishcloth or a pencil I was fine. I use a computer every day and it wasn’t as though the inability to unclench or fully grasp something was stopping me from typing after all. I was also trying to write as much as I could on my breaks and whenever I wasn’t working.
Now those of you who have had tendonitis before are probably already wincing in horror. After all, most people would consider the inability to use their hands a relatively serious condition. I really have no excuse other than to say that I was obviously abusing myself for no better reason than I didn’t want to disappoint anyone, either my bosses or myself. When my hand finally started hurting just to type though, I had to stop. I worked till the end of the day and then went into the doctors to see what was up. It was then that I found out the cold hard truth that I still live with today. There is no cure for tendonitis, in fact, Western Medicine doesn’t even have a fool proof way of dealing with the pain.
I ended up having to take a week off, in which I was told to not use my hand at all. For the first day or so, I tried to peck the keys like a chicken, using the two-finger style so popular among the aged who never used a computer until they were adults and aren’t interested in learning such a skill now. Even so, I would occasionally forget and the pain would flare up, and I would put away the computer hoping that reading would help. At the end of the first week, I went back to work on light duties… which meant that I spent the next week or two printing off emails, since sorting paper required too much use for my hand to be of any help.
Nowadays, my hand still hurts, even though I started taking better care of my hand after that. I suppose that once you’ve damaged your hand that badly it never truly heals. Which is why weeks like this one, I remember that I really need to start using my DragonNaturally Speaking program on a more regular basis. The ability to let my hands rest for evenings at a time (if not the days my hands would like) would be immensely helpful. I don’t know about you guys, but one day, I would like to be able to live pain free.
In other news, I have finally begun actual editing on my Seirei story. I have finished a rough draft of the book, and now I’m going through and putting my scenes in order, writing new scenes that I realize need to be added and making certain that everything is ready for a polishing rewrite.
I understand that I’m probably using the terms wrong, which annoys me, but stick with me or better yet, correct me if you can. This is my first time really working on editing a manuscript. I had tried once before, but I was trying to edit for content and doing line editing at the same time. Later, my notes were a mess (as though the story itself wasn’t already) and I could hardly read them. That first novel should never see the light of day, but it did teach me that edits should be done, first for missing content, then a second time for altered content, and thereafter for line edits.
Yes, Holly Lisle may be disappointed with me for doing 3 edits, when she can do it all in one, but the way I look at it, she’d probably just be impressed that I was trying to get it done and out professionally. On the other hand, I’m hoping to take her classes eventually, and perhaps after I’m more used to the editing process all around, I can try her One-Pass Edit style.
On a final note, I have been listening to a book recently, that I would like to endorse wholeheartedly. I first found out about this book from Philippa Ballantine on Facebook, when she mentioned that she was hoping to read it soon. Knowing that I love what she writes, I decided to take a chance that we’d have similar reading preference. I’m still not certain if we do, since this book seems much more like Science Fiction than a Fantasy, but either way, the book is worth finding.
Called www: Wake, this book by Robert J. Sawyer is brilliant. I’m about ¾ way through it and it’s awesome. The idea is that a girl who has been blind from birth receives a new bit of technology that allows her not only to see the world she lives in, but the world wide web as well. It’s a great science fiction tale that revolves around the themes of consciousness, vision and the idea of how do we decide what is sentient and what is not.
I haven’t reached the end yet, but I am willing to say immediately, go out and buy this book. I have the audio version and I don’t think I can rave enough about this novel! I’m enjoying it so much that I’ve already bought the second book in the series, www:Watch because I know that if its anything like my Wake, I’ll love it!
I’ll be waiting eagerly for the conclusion to the trilogy, www:Wonder, coming out soon!
Posted in Blogs on August 31st, 2010 by B.A. Matthews | | 47 Comments »
I was sitting down at my office today when it occurred to me, that I look at artistic mediums differently now than I did even 2 years ago. Compared with my younger self I find that I critique things now, instead of simply enjoying it the medium. A good example of this is how I now think about movies. I have found myself, more and more as time goes on, criticizing story, plot and setting than I used to. A very good difference though is that I tend to do it in a very constructive way. A few years ago if I watched a movie that I didn’t enjoy I would say “Oh, I didn’t like that movie”, but when I was asked why, I couldn’t give the reasons. Or I could give individual points that I didn’t like, but I was unable to describe why the whole didn’t work for me. Now, I’m able to look at movies, whether like or dislike, and explain what didn’t work for me and what did. I also find it exceptionally interesting that I tend to talk about the differences using an author’s terms, not in the terms a movie or screenplay would use.
The first movie that I can remember doing this to was 9. You may or may not remember this Disney movie from a few years ago. It was an interesting computer animated film about a dystopia in which humanity has been destroyed. The only living things are 9 small creatures designed to look like men (at least in basic shape) and their enemies, the robots that destroyed the world. The basic premise of the 9 creatures was that a brilliant scientist created them before he died, animating each of them with a personality or aspect of the man’s soul. In the movie, the creatures not only have to figure out who made them and why they are here, but they also have to defeat the evil robots who seem to be carrying out their last programmed command of “If it moves, kill it.”
My final decision on the movie was that it was good overall but while I enjoyed it, it could have been much better. One of the arguments I gave for this was that “the movie didn’t keep its promises.” This frustrated the heck out of my husband who didn’t understand the term. I explained it to him by saying that the ending seemed to have been afraid to fulfill its promise of a gritty, philosophical ending. They had copped out instead by making everybody left alive sad about their friends’ death, but moving on, in a sappy scene where we see the earth healing itself. It didn’t seem to fit the movie, as though they’d cheapened it by taking the easy way out.
I do the same with music, which is actually where I first noticed me doing it. When I first started doing my music reviews, I had a few albums that were types I honestly didn’t enjoy much. I initially put off doing the reviews as long as I could. Eventually I realized that a good music review isn’t based on whether or not I ‘like’ the album in question, but whether or not it had been done well, noting where it was lacking and why and why the albums did excellently and why. It really taught me a lot when I began to look critically at all of the music.
Now I’m pleased to be able to say that I think I’m finally figuring out how to apply that critical thinking to my writing. I think this is a huge step for me in my learning curve. Now I just need to figure out how to connect it to the books I read. I think that I may have been doing so unconsciously since I’ve been having trouble reading anything. I seem to be catching the writers doing something that irritates me I’ll immediately put the book down and think about how to not make that same mistake in my own writing (or how I would improve it in that book).
On a related note, I started reading a favourite older book today, Sebastian by Anne Bishop. Set in the world of Ephemera, the book details how the Eater of the World is escaping his bounds. The best thing about the book (which is brilliant to begin with) is the way that the story really makes you think about the way their world works, and how we re-create our world with the truths within our hearts. It always makes me look back on my own life and try to untangle the strands that hold my heart and soul captive, trying to understand which of my life’s biggest issues have been brought about by someone else and which have been brought about by me.
It’s very interesting if only because searching the interconnected webs teaches me how people are tied together by their relationships and how sometimes the simplest of things can change our perception.
I think I’m going to start something new this week as well. I’m going to try writing up a 1k – 5k story on the writing prompts on the Writing Excuses podcast. I’ll try to post up most of them for you guys!
Writing Prompt: Write about an “Interspeciated workplace.” Or how your character has just received a “Cease and Desist” request from a Web Cartoonist.
Posted in Blogs on August 23rd, 2010 by B.A. Matthews | | 6 Comments »
Please feel free to leave comments about my writing, where you think the story may be going or any other thoughts that you had while reading it!
A few of you following me may have noticed something this week… That’s right. I changed my Twitter account from B_A_Matthews to BA_Matthews. Why? Well that’s simple. I had it set up for a different name originally. Now of course, I changed it and while it reads correctly on their page, it does not when I try to use it to validate web responses or posts. Having spent a few days trying to correct and change it permanently, I finally decided that I would be better served just starting a new account and closing my old one. Thus, the old account should have reached the end of its run on Friday, August 13, 2010. The new one is already up and I’m tweeting there already, so jump on the bandwagon and follow me (BA_Matthews). Also thank you so much to PhilippaJane (of Chasing the Bard fame) who was the first person to receive my message about my changing twitter account and set about following me on the new one.
Speaking of Philippa Ballantine, I follow her blog and though it was hard for her to ask, she had a request for all her readers. Since I’m not published yet, I’m sending the request through to you! Philippa’s new book, Geist (a paranormal romance) is coming out in October this year and I’ll be pre-ordering a copy for myself in just a few days after I get my paycheck. Her publishing company has already purchased the second book in the series from her (sorry, no set release date to my knowledge), and they are considering whether to contract her for the final two books that Philippa has planned in the series. Since I can’t wait to read this new book, I’d like you to help me let the publishing company know that her fans are eagerly awaiting this new series. The best part is that you don’t need to do anything to difficult. No writing letters to the publisher or pre-ordering her book. So what do you have to do? It’s easy. Just walk into your local bookstore, whether independent or a chain (personally I always head to my local Chapters), and ask about Geist. The bookstores will do the rest!
Moving back onto my stuff, I must admit, I haven’t gotten as much done the last day or so as I could have and I’m firmly blaming life for yesterday at least. I got home and collapsed into a sleep so deep that I didn’t walk up until the next morning. I tend to treat my body as though it were some sort of machine usually, as though it won’t break down or get tired. Couple that with the fact that I only tend to get 5 – 6 hours of sleep on weeknights (a little more on weekends) and it means that when my body finally demands a night of sleep I tend to give it what it wants. In my way of thinking it’s easier than trying to actually get 8 hours of sleep every night. One screw up night every month and I get about 2 extra hours every other day seems like a pretty good trade off to me.
This weekend looks as though it’s going to be a nice writing full one for me as well. I want to finish my Memories written in Moonlight novel this month. I have an assortment of about 10 chapters total to write or re-write before I can start doing a content edit of the book. Since I would like to have this novel done (or nearly done) to show Sandra Chang (Editor at Tor Books that I’ll be meeting with at SiWC) in October, I really have to kick my ass to get myself working on it. I will also be spending some time on my Dual Melodies storyline, given a chance, I’d like to kick out another chapter of that this weekend. I’d also like to work on the last bit of editing for Chapter 2 of Dual Melodies so I can put that out for you (or at least, part 1 of Chapter 2) this weekend. I’m also working on a poem to send in SiWC before September. Fortunately, the poem is finished, and I just need to play around with the editing and tighten up the wordcraft a bit on that. The last I plan on working on this weekend is a short story (no more than 8K words) for Pirates/Sorcery submission I heard about on “Get Published” earlier this week. They’ll be accepting submissions in November, and I want to have it ready to go on or just after November 1. In addition to the above, I have a Dark Urban Fantasy that I stopped working on last November in favour of my Seirei story… I think that I would like to pick that up again and finish it.
In addition, me and my husband will be going to see “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World” on Tuesday… I’ll let you know about that one if it’s any good, although I’ve heard brilliant things about it! Plus, housework over the weekend, and a few family visits. Yep, a very busy weekend, but honestly, I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Oh, two more things! SM Stirlings book, “The High King of Montival” will be coming out on September 7, 2010. It’s the final book in his Emberverse series and is setting itself up to brilliant! I’ve pre-ordered mine (and one for my Father who also loves the series). I suggest pre-ordering the book or buying it on its opening day. When publishers and reviewers see a novel get a lot of notice its first day out, they tend to pay it a lot more attention and this series deserves that interest. Also the pagan band Omnia’s newest album, Wolf Love, is coming out either this month or next. These guys are my favourite band out there (sharing that position with Gaia Consort, now known as the Bone Poets Orchestra). If I’m lucky, I’ll get to be the one to do the review of their new album for PRN! Check out this band and give them a listen to my favourite song, Alive on You-tube. You can’t go wrong picking up one of their albums!
Until my next blog, keep writing and I’ll see you next time!
Posted in Blogs on August 14th, 2010 by B.A. Matthews | | 3 Comments »
Today, I had a great breakthrough in my demonic love story. I’ve been unhappy with character motivations for keeping the girl at the Lord’s manor house, when there’s no reason for it… a point which was again flung in my face when I realized that my magic system didn’t quite work like I had hoped it would. So, in addition to simplifying my magic system, I’ve decided that the main male demon is going to be an ambassador of his race to this lord, instead of using him as nothing more than a second character for the main character to fall in love with (which is always a bad idea, and wasn’t entirely true, regardless. He was simply much less important in the first half of the book). I’ve included for your perusal (so that you can see how I work) a copy of the changes and how that part of the story will change. I think I’ll be able to adapt the one chapter I’ve already written to reflect this easily enough with a second chapter and a few scattered scenes to cement the change. Unfortunately, it means that my rough draft will probably end up being about 125k words (counting magic system changes to the plot as well) instead of the 100k I was aiming for. While this means a lot of work during the editing stage, it will simply remind me that I will need the wordcraft to be really tight before I consider sending it out to agents. Oh, I’ve also decided that I need a completely different name for the race instead of “demon”… tell me, what do you think of Kissrie for the race name? Corny, Cool?
Original: Seirei is a demon who prefers to not use her birthright magic, and thus she is considered flawed among their race. Kii, a male of her race decides that he will marry her (since she is beautiful and kind) since he desires a woman he can protect over a woman who would be his equal. Before he can propose, Seirei saves a lording named Tenoe from an assassination attempt and is captured in turn by Tenoe’s guards when they arrive. Seirei is held captive and is then forced to stay with the lord because Tenoe wishes to study the connection between their two magics.
Correction: Seirei is a member of the Kissrie, a magically adept race similar to humans. She is a very weak member of the Kissrie in magical power and her family has very little political power due to their “diluted blood”. Kii, a childhood friend of Seirei’s and a member of a higher house is trained to be an ambassador to the humans and travels to the Lord Sumae’s manor with Seirei’s family who happened to be heading a similar direction. He decides that Seirei will be his wife and she cares for him as well, but is unsure if it’s love she’s feeling. However, a marriage to him would raise her families power immensely. They talk about making such a commitment, but decide nothing for certain. When they are only a few hours away from the capital Seirei walks Kii near to the road to the manor to say goodbye, agreeing to see him again after his work has been done. Unfortunately, on her way back to her family, Seirei is captured, having endeared herself to the Lord’s son by saving his life. The lord insists on a hostage to be kept to seal the pack and Tenoe the lording asks for it to be Seirei. Though the Kii tries to convince them that it is he as a trained “ambassador” that should be held hostage the Lords son demands and is granted his request that the hostage be Seirei. Kii demands that she be given the choice, and if she disagrees, then he will be the one to stay. The lord agrees and Seirei frustrates Kii by saying yes to the proposal, since she is running from the knowledge that Kii wants to marry her and she hasn’t decided how she feels about that yet.
As you can see, the second is much longer, much more in-depth and even has motivations that will deal quite well with the sub-plots. Since I’m not much of a plotter I find that I tend to start off with all of my ideas as a big mesh that sounds much better in my head than it looks written down on paper. Thus, my first drafts tend to be overly focused on the main plot, with sub plots being thrown in wherever I happen to find them and ignored until I start the editing process. Technically, the rough draft is done, but I’m still adding in pieces, re-arranging and playing. I haven’t written the ending yet, due mostly to me procrastinating. I know how the ending goes, but in the wilds of Nanowrimo, I had been led astray by my own sense of competitiveness (I came in with the second highest total in Calgary though!). In my desperate attempt to get words, I started following my original plot, which I had changed prior to November. The old plot didn’t work and therefore, nothing about the scene was working… yet, I kept adding words to it. Finally I realized what was wrong was that I was being a slave to a part of my outline that no longer fit. It will be great to get in there and change things around.
On a different subject, I went to visit the Forward Motion forum earlier this week and I found a post that I had made months ago, before I’d even put up a website. I mentioned that I tend to read blogs even more than I listen to podcasts. If you go to my links pages you’ll see all of the blogs I heartily endorse you check out, but the point I made in my post was that following people’s blogs tends to feel just a little bit like stalking must.
Often people will talk about things in their blog that are quite personal, and even if they aren’t we are still putting out private information about ourselves. People who have a daily blog will tell you all about what they are doing every day and we the reader will follow along behind them, at just the safe sort of distance used by stalkers who don’t want to get caught. It is a bit of a creepy way of looking at all of the social media programs actually. By far, the worst one that I’ve seen is twitter where people use apps to let others know where they are and how far away from home they are.
Sometimes it feels as if the internet has stolen our safety and given us a sense of anonymity in return, giving us power that we are missing in our own lives. While this fact does sound horrifying and like my story plots above, much worse that it needs to, we need to remember that we are actually the ones in control. It would also help to remember that the same anonymity lets us feel that it’s safe to watch people online with no fear of reprisal. Before we start placing blame, we would do well to look to ourselves first.
Posted in Blogs on August 9th, 2010 by B.A. Matthews | | 9 Comments »
Please post here if you have any suggestions on pages that have helped you out with, that you follow. Or perhaps you can’t stand one of the sites I’ve linked? Let me know why?
Lugnassadh – Damh the Bard
Lugnassadh Blessings to everyone today!
Lughnasadh marks the beginning of the harvest season, the Harvest of Grain (Bread), the ripening of first fruits (usually berries), and was traditionally a time of community gatherings, market festivals, horse races and reunions with distant family and friends. Given it’s name due to the deity Lugh, who watches over the corn, Lughnassadh is celebrated in a variety of ways today, including it being a National Holiday in Switzerland.
Personally, I am a Neo-Pagan and I know that I am not a reconstructionist. I usually try to have friends over for a good meal, including corn somewhere in the menu (This year it’s actual corn on the cob, but last year, it was corn chips). Then, after a day of celebrations, me and my husband will hold a ritual in our stone circle in the back yard.
Regardless of whether you’re celebrating or not (and I feel the need to point out that even Christians tend to hold Harvest Celebrations and Blessing at this time of year), I would like to leave all of you with a very simple blessing.
May your harvest be fruitful
May your Summer remain warm and clear
and your corn rise tall and ripe!
For all of you in the Southern Hemisphere, celebrating Imbolg here is a blessing for you as well.
May your Fires be lit
May your cold season warm with the coming of Spring
and your imagination flourish!
Offhand, the song above is a beauty I found quite a while ago by an artist named Damh the Bard. Brilliant artist if you want to look him up. He’s also a podcaster of some note,, doing a monthly show called DruidCast for the OBOD (The Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids). The show is very well done, with many interviews, songs and interesting information. Give it a listen if you’re into learning more about Druidcraft or just interested in Paganism in general.
Posted in Pagan on August 1st, 2010 by B.A. Matthews | | 2 Comments »
